1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to levelling and stabilizing articles of furniture and the like. More particularly, the invention is directed to a dynamically-adjustable stabilizing device which is insertable between a support surface and the lower support structure of an article of furniture, such as a chair or table leg or the like, to level and stabilize the article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most articles of furniture are usually supported by lower support members which often have more than three potential support points. Examples include articles of furniture such as tables, which have four or more downwardly depending legs, articles having a plurality of horizontal runners adapted to abut the support surface, and pedestal supported articles. Unless unusual care is taken, it is not uncommon to find that the lower support structures of these articles do not terminate in a common support plane. When this happens, the articles of furniture do not have a single stable support plane but, rather, are subject to unwanted wobbling or tipping. This also occurs in the even more common situation where the floor or other support surface is not exactly flat or even at the location at which the article is freestandingly disposed thereon. Even with articles of furniture which have only three support points, such as a three legged table, which inherently defines a stable support plane, the article working surface may be nevertheless tilted due to an error in the length of any of the three supports or a nonlevel or nonplanar support surface.
Some articles of furniture include adjustable pads on their lower supports, such pads often being in the common form of threaded bolts that terminate in support pads or heads. These threaded bolts are selectively displaceable into and out of the lower supports to provide an adjustable support or contact plane. Other known techniques of levelling items, such as heavy machinery, include the provision of a pair of freely sliding opposed wedges interconnected for selective movement by a threaded shaft. A number of approaches to furniture stabilizing suggest the use of a combination of wedges having ridges that intermesh with each other for adjustable stability.
Despite the existence of these and other varied levelling and stabilizing structures, it remains a common experience for a person to find an article of furniture, such as a table or the like, to be either not level or unstable. One possible reason is that the majority of articles of furniture do not include any adjustable stabilizing structure despite the known use of adjustable pads. Even where levelling structures are present on the article, they may be out of adjustment or may have been damaged through intense use. While inserting wedge-shaped objects, such as matchbooks, between an article of furniture and the underlying support surface provides a convenient way to temporarily level or stabilize the article, the wedge concept does not readily accommodate the relatively small adjustments typically needed and, where larger adjustments are required, continued stability may be compromised. Further, such wedges are likely to slide out from the space between the article and the support surface, thereby restoring the unstable or wobbly condition.
So-called bean-bags--cloth pouches containing a plurality of beans or similar large particulate objects that are relatively movable within the cloth pouch--have heretofore been known for use in positioning or supporting lightweight articles such as ash trays, cameras and the like. However, they are not effective to level or stabilize a heavyweight article, such as an article of furniture, because the mass of particles substantially flows in the general manner of a liquid within the cloth pouch and they accordingly do not provide adequate resistance against the force or pressure placed on them in such applications. Thus, they are by their very nature unable to provide sufficient and continuing stability to an article of furniture and the like when placed between the article and the underlying support surface.